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"Despite an earlier report that the Orioles are in "hard" on LaRoche, MLB.com's Britt Ghiroli hears the team's interest is minimal at best, as they're instead focused on trades."

Just goes to show you have to take all of these rumors with a grain of salt. I still like the idea of trading surplus SP for an impact hitter. LaRoche would be nice if they could keep the deal at 2 years but I certainly won't be heartbroken if they don't get him.

ofahn wrote:Only if some team is stupid enough to do it.....................

I'am pretty sure you are in the boat of some combination of Betemit and Reimold at DH due to the lack of their fielding abilities and injury problems right? So that means you're in favor of Davis playing either 1B or LF?

Adam LaRoche made great sense a couple years ago when the price tag was significantly lower. Now, he's older and the price is higher. He's never been a true cleanup hitter. I felt differently about him his last go as a free agent. Now, it just doesn't make sense.

My first choice for Betemit and Reimold would be DH. Reimold because he's so brittle and Betemit because giving him a glove should be a felony.

Yes. I would like to see them sign LaRoche which would put a plus defender at 1B.

Okay, so if we sign Laroche, he plays first and Davis plays left. Laroche would put up substantially better defense..and maybe a tick above Davis offensively while Davis shows below average defense in left. With Davis at first and a platoon of McLouth/Pearce, we ALMOST get the defense back we would have gotten with Laroche at first and Davis in left, and we ALMOST get the offense back we would have gotten with LaRoche at first and Davis in left. I don't think that is worth ...13mil a year.? That paragraph was a bit messy but hopefully you understand.

osforlife wrote:With Davis at first and a platoon of McLouth/Pearce, we ALMOST get the defense back we would have gotten with Laroche at first and Davis in left, and we ALMOST get the offense back we would have gotten with LaRoche at first and Davis in left.

ofahn wrote:I understand the concept, but I'm not sure I agree with your math.

I'am not really into defensive metrics, so i'll keep it simple. I'd say LaRoche is a plus defender on a plus plus/plus/above average/average/below average/bad scale. Davis is a below-average defender. McLouth/Pearce would be above-average defensively IMO. & The combined OPS of LaRoche/Davis is about the same as the combined OPS McLouth/Pearce/Davis.